


Chaos is a ladder

by holy_roller_novocaine, This_wild_abyss (holy_roller_novocaine)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Crack?, F/M, Female Uzumaki Naruto, Fuinjutsu! Naruto, Gen, Rule 63, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-03-29 16:26:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 14,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13930842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holy_roller_novocaine/pseuds/holy_roller_novocaine, https://archiveofourown.org/users/holy_roller_novocaine/pseuds/This_wild_abyss
Summary: Where Naruto is concerned, does anything ever go according to plan? She's here to court chaos.





	1. Chapter 1

  
Ghost of an uncertain future:

The world is a beast of a burden, but it’s a weight that Naruto has carried all her life without regret. And yet more than anything than this moment she feels weary and hammered down.

  
This is the last resort.

  
The world she once carried now has the lingering stench of decay, ash falls freely in a mockery of light rain, and the earth cracks with a thirst for sun and water. The only sound is the howling wind as she steps on this dry earth steadily making her way to what represented the pinnacle of shinobi civilization. There are not even ruins to allude to once stood here, what it represented, the will of the people who built it, nor those who inhabited it and carried on the will of fire.

  
But there yonder.

  
Yonder is the rocky precipice, the mountain that proudly boasted the faces of the fire shadows that led the Village Hidden in The Leaves. Now beyond there lies nothing, the mountain is gone, gone, gone.

  
Naruto comes to stand before it, and then looks around her.

  
Uchiha Madara has finally made the world in his image.

  
And Naruto will undo all his hard work.

  
_‘Kurama, will this work?’_

  
In the ether Kurama stirs, he ruminates on giving her the response he’s given her for every time she voiced this question. To Kurama it matters not, he was there at the beginning, he will be there at the end. He is primordial, he is eternal, and at the root of his being that has grown apathetic with the passage of time something stirs, for Naruto is different. In every cycle of humanity, he meets an extraordinary human, but Naruto’s shadow encompasses them all.

  
_**‘Yes.’**_ The wily fox grins at her sharp intake of breath. She’d been bracing herself for a negative response, but this will work, Kurama will make it so. Bend the rules that bind him in this cycle and use those seldom used powers that would drive humanity to madness. Just a touch, and perhaps Naruto will come away from this unscathed.

  
Naruto nods and straightens, she bites her thumb and runs the bloodied appendage down her arm. Ink appears in intricate matrixes, dancing across her skin before coalescing at her feet and spreading into a seal. Naruto proceeds to draw on chakra that would require a platoon of jonin, and with it comes Kurama’s ancient essence, triggering the seal.

  
The world around her explodes into awesome hues, and before her the very fabric of the space time continuum yawns open, Naruto does not hesitate to step through.

* * *

  
With a shock she awakens. However, there’s an evil moment, where her vision blurs, the shadows seem to lengthen, and black spots appear. But then she blinks and takes in the wooden ceiling with wide eyes, clutching her bed sheets with white knuckles. Sweat beads at her brow, and blonde hair lays matted to her forehead and neck. She strips the sheets away and stumbles to the restroom. The light flickers on, she looks at the step stool, and feels hysteria bubbling forth. Trembling legs carry her upward, she takes one look in the mirror, and stares hard.

  
Kurama makes a noise of interest, ** _‘It worked after all, and you weren’t driven insane.’_**

Naruto finally gives into the hysteria, laughing so hard that she clutches the edge of the sink, and then falls onto the tile floors in tears. “Holy fucking shit! It worked!”

  
**_‘Much,’_ ** Kurama notes wryly.

  
If the ANBU who guard Konoha’s jinnchuriki wonder why she is laughing uproariously at 3:17 A.M. in the morning, well they’ve seen stranger things where she is concerned.

And it’s going to get stranger.


	2. Chapter 2

**Begin Again:**

She laughs and laughs and laughs. She laughs so hard, she begins to heave for breath and finds her lungs constricted.

' _ **Breathe.'**_

The panic sets in.

' _ **Breathe!'**_ Kurama commands.

Black spots appear in her vision, she struggles harder.

' _ **Breathe damn you!'**_ He roars, and a surge of chakra jolts through her.

Naruto gulps in breaths and then sits still and waits and counts.

When the madness has abated, the first thing she does is pulls herself to her feet. On trembling legs, she makes her way to the calendar.

She tilts her head curiously. This is quite unexpected... but workable, definitely workable.

There on the calendar are black "x's" leading steadily up to a date circled in red. She is three days short of starting the academy.

It appears months of careful planning shan't be for naught. What's past is prologue; she has ripped asunder the past to forge the future anew.

The second thing she does is grab a pillow, open her window to climb to the rooftop. Struggling with the child's body she now occupies, she mourns the loss of yester years graceful movements and chakra control, and she does not look forward to the arduous task of getting them back.

Naruto sits, clutches her pillow and stares, but most of all reaches out her senses and listens.

Konoha never sleeps, from the rooftops filled with shinobi foot traffic, to the districts that remain restless even in twilight. For far too long she has been without sound, without life.

For months she survived and planned with an increasingly ambivalent chakra monster that sensed the inevitable end of the ninja world.

Trapped in a hellish wasteland, haunted by memories and ghosts, more times than not Naruto felt her sanity was slipping. She slumbered shallowly with one eye open, waiting for Uchiha Madara to strike. Waiting on that last confrontation, to use a seal to detonate, taking her, him, the world, and going supernova with it.

Never again. As she feels familiar chakra signatures that had been lost to her, her resolve strengthens.

She'll save them all even if it kills her.

On the rooftop she remains until morning dawns.

* * *

Personally, attending the Academy does not register in her plans, she has things to do, hell to raise, and chaos to court. Therefore, the presence of a shadow clone reinforced with a seal for durability will suffice. Perhaps she'll attend every blue moon for nostalgia, revel in the innocence of halcyon days. She'll give herself a year in the academy and then begin to climb the ranks, it'd be novel to actually gain a chunin vest and finally shed the title of eternal genin.

What holds her interest in the first few weeks of starting the academy is the ninja library. Now that she is a student she has limited access to Konoha's ninja library. From there she get's a library card from a surprisingly indifferent chunin, spends a few hours reading scrolls and books on ninjutsu, taijutsu and the like. Fuinjutsu is an obscure art, and the books rarer, those in the library are forbidden from leaving the premises. So, she reads them hungrily, and takes studious notes.

Naruto didn't have much of a formal education on seals, so the few books on sealing are enlightening and puts terms to things she has learned through trail and error. Fuinjutsu comes easy to her, once the basics are down, the sky's the limit as long creativity and limitless imagination is at her finger tips. She ruminates that the boundless possibilities of fuinjutsu, and the fearless way the Uzumaki utilized seals and hoarded their knowledge of them signed their death warrants.

That thought is sobering enough.

Since she is on 24-hour watch by the Hokage's elite guard, there are appearances she has to make.

(Naruto was never considered a bright child, but stupid she was not. The teachers of the academy did not make an effort to teach her, nor connect with her learning style. Even Iruka-sensei struggled to reach her, but with a class to teach, one on one time was not merited. Her time with Ero-senin showed her that simply telling her, reading from text, or showing was not enough. She had to do the task herself, and Jiriaya-sensei seemed to know she was a kinesthetic learner without ascribing to any other method. She supposed she took after her father in that regard.)

Anyhow she has a narrative to build. She can't go from the village idiot to sudden prodigy.

So she doesn't demonstrate a sudden proficiency in advanced shinobi skills, nor knowledge in ninja knowledge beyond a clanless orphan. But she does excel in every lesson, exerting effortless brilliance even if she spends most of her time in class with her face shoved in a book, or working on a seal.

In the library, in class, or at home she works on a portfolio of seals; experimental seals, seals she's perfected, and the common shinobi seals that she has augmented. It's one of the few times that she's personally in class, choosing to spend recess in the classroom to work on a new seal that manipulates gravity, when she's approached by her class instructor. Naruto's spent a month in half in the Academy,not once has she been singled out, she has a feeling that this a moment of reckoning.

"Uzumaki," The instructor states without preamble, "Demonstrate the henge no jutsu."

Naruto executes the jutsu, flawlessly turning into the Sandaime.

"Demonstrate the bunshin no jutsu."

Twenty bunshin appear, but two of them look sickly. Damn.

"Kawarimi no jutsu."

She does this without a qualm.

The instructor grunts, "It has been decided that you will leave your cohort and join the year three class."

Naruto grins.


	3. Chapter 3

**Strife:**

Food is running low. Her milk is expired beyond comfort, the refrigerator and cabinets are becoming scarce. Grocery shopping is the remedy, so she treks to the bazaar district.  
  
Naruto has spent the last few months of her previous life living in her head, conversing with a chakra monster. This habit has yet to change. She spends her trek bickering with Kurama, oblivious to her surroundings, but alert enough to sense impending danger, and dodge the heavy foot traffic typical in the market.  
  
It is not until she is judging one plum's imperfections to another's, picking out a few more goods, heading to the till, and then told the total that she realizes.  
  
"What? That can't be right," Naruto claims in denial.  
  
"Either you pay or you leave," The merchant sneers, and mutters, "Your business is unwanted here anyway."  
  
"Are you fucking serious, 'attebayo!?" Comes the indignant reply.  
  
"Are you going to pay or not? Do I need to alert the Police force if you're going to cause trouble?" The merchant queries, a glint in his eyes that Naruto suddenly recognizes.  
  
Ah.  
  
She'd forgotten.  
  
The celebrity of yesterday is gone with the notoriety of today.  
  
She'd forgotten.  
  
Starry eyed and elated, she had forgotten she was a pariah in her own home.  
  
The village she'd sworn to protect did not return her allegiance beyond the jinchurriki label stamped on her head. Fearing what she harbored, and deciding the greatest route was to abuse and loathe the individual who protected them from certain death. The world was not kind, and she learned that first hand. Naruto acutely remembers the isolation of her childhood, but the crippling loneliness did not break her then and it certainly would not now. Nonetheless, it makes her wonder how she did not become more misanthropic like some of her fellow jinchurriki.  
  
Naruto puts down the food items and leaves the premises. As she goes through the crowd she finally notices the wide berth civilians give her, the stares of barely concealed hostility, the susurrations. Naruto averts her eyes, and ducks into an alleyway. A moment later she returns, and she is just one of the crowd, disguised in a henge.  
  
Naruto begins her shopping, unhindered by blatant price gouging.  
  
Lesson learned once again.  
  
She won't forget.

* * *

Naruto wants a utopia, Kurama believes Naruto's goal is a pipe dream, after all utopia means no place.  
  
Humanity is fickle, this is something that has never changed through out the numerous millennia of his existence. Nevertheless, he believes that she is capable of ushering in an era of peace, and her legacy will follow, but it too will eventually become lost to the ages.  
  
Peace is a lie.  
  
Does that mean he will stand in the way of her dream? Nay, his purpose in this cycle is as a harbinger of destruction or peace. In this he chooses neither, he'll dwell in the gray.

He is an ally that helps when called upon, lending his power, fighting the good fight.  
  
He is a confidant, giving advice of wisdom, words of warning as Naruto makes plans.  
  
He is a spectator, curious to see how Naruto will twist this world into her vision of peace, how ruthless she will be to those who will get in the way, how they will burn for her peace.  
  
Kurama's eyes flicker open, and his nine tail twitch in a domino motion. The sky of Naruto's mind-scape shifts—gone, gone is the sewer—the blues becoming an ominous gray.  
  
Low and behold, she appears, stumbling as she makes her way through rolling grass and wild flowers.  
  
Nightmares, he surmises, and as she approaches he is proven correct. In her child's body she appears, the skin under her eyes smudged purple, expression haunted.  
  
It will a night like most others since they twisted time's hands, and left events etched in stone smooth to be rewritten.  
  
Naruto climbs up the fox's massive paw, up his forearm to settle in the crook of his elbow. She yawns widely and waits.  
  
Kurama is filtering through his memory, searching through the eons, transforming into a raconteur. **_‘It begins with a war, there’s always a war, but this was the war for the dawn…’_**    
  
Naruto listens avidly but is eventually lulled to sleep.

* * *

The Kage no Bunshin is the greatest jutsu ever created. Her chakra is shot to hell, but at least she is capable of certain feats of her repertoire.  
  
Shadow clones become incremental to her modus operandi.  
  
Naruto is going to give herself 3-5 months in the year four class, before endeavoring to push forward to graduation. Her time line is strict, and while there are contingencies for unknown anomalies this isn't one.  
  
She needs to gain back her muscle memory. Train her body, practice her jutsu, bijuu transformation, and test the limits of the chakra the the great sage inundated her with. With the feed back loop from her clones she'll gain a year of training in a matter of months.  
  
This is where fuinjutsu comes in. Her apartment becomes her canvas. With the help of her clones she is able to implement a complex security system, create a green house, and execute one of her greatest creations. A pocket dimension where she could train without hindrance, nor be spied upon with unwanted eyes.

Based on the seal that held Kurama captive, in it, is a dimension based on manipulating space. Naruto takes this dimension and using it as the seal’s foundation, and from there she adds metrics for stability, illusion to blend in with the surroundings of her apartment, and life chakra to help create a small plane of existence

The ink she uses is infused with her blood and pulls at her chakra as it’s drawn. After the seal is drawn, Naruto stands back and gazes critically between her sketch and the writing on the wall. She nods to herself in confirmation, claps her hand together and murmurs, “Fuin.”    
  
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu is the greatest jutsu, but the art of fuinjutsu is a close second.

  



	4. Chapter 4

Naruto's curious.

More than anything she wears her thinking face… woe to all.

Anyhow.

In the pocket dimension, life pulses.

The Rikudo Sennin once claimed she was the reincarnation of his second son Asura. Naruto had scoffed at him, she made her own damn destiny!

But it appears his claim had some merit.

That would explain why trees and vegetation, and terrain are reminiscent of Konoha's, pervade the small dimension. That would also explain why the seedlings in her greenhouse were flourishing quickly into ripe fruit and vegetables. (At that revelation, an instant upside comes to mind; grocery shopping at the bazaar will become a less frequent occurrence and help lessen the burden on her monthly budget.)

This was not what she quite expected when she added the the metric for nature/life chakra.

Curious.

Her mother was an Uzumaki, her father an off shoot of the Senju. Making her descendent of the second son; and a likely candidate to inherit his chakra.

_'Kurama, what do you think!?'_

Silence answers her.

_'Kurama! Kurama, Kurama, Kurama, Kurama, Kurama, KURA-CHAN!'_

A disgusted growl marks his entrance.

 _ **'I think that you are a moron'.**_  The fox snarls.

_'Neh Kurama, what do you remember about Asura before inherited the "body" of the sage?'_

Kurama releases a long-suffering sigh. __ **'Hm. Before he was chosen as Hagoromo's successor. Asura had developed a mastery of wind release, and once he became a sage he developed wind and water release.'  
**  
Huh.

So this is what the Sage gifted her with.

Naruto grins.

Looks like she has unlimited senjutsu at her hands.

She can work with this.

But first, fifty shadow clones come into existence, she needs to work on her chakra control.

"Ready girls!"

"Hell yah!", "I was born ready, 'attebayo!", "Oh Shodai no, not tree walking again!" Come the various replies.

The next five months are going to be utter hell.

Taijutsu, chakra control and fuinjutsu are her central concerns at the moment.

Perhaps its folly on her part, but Naruto never learned a formal style of taijutsu.

Therefore, she takes it upon herself to develop one, specifically tailored for her unpredictable fighting style.

She's a brawler, regardless of her size and gender. She has strength, and with the chakra she has at her beck and call, she can break bones and quite possibly destroy tenketsu.

Speed has never been her strongest attribute, but it's something she going to work on. Under henge she purchases weights to steadily build her speed.

With speed she will be able to utilize seals effectively and efficiently.

With the katas she learned at the Academy, under the tutelage of the toad sages, and the seldom teachings of blase sensei. Naruto slowly but surely begins to create a taijutsu style.

A taijutsu style that is diverse enough to enable her to use her monstrous chakra to rupture tenketsu, unleash seals at unparalleled speeds, and utilize her natural strength.

Of course it needs a badass name.

She fondly dubs it Uzuken.

She spends hours upon hours training, following a strict schedule, from dawn till dusk. Perfecting her Uzuken katas, creating seals to use in combat, and getting some semblance of chakra control.

Shadow clones remain her most resilient tool, and with it Naruto begins to gain what she has lost.

And she resolves to be better.

At her best the world still burned.

* * *

 

It's Saturday, sibling to Friday and Sunday, cousin to the envious Monday.

Naruto's on the rooftop of her apartment, in the green house she has hidden via illusion seal.

Here the mania seems to still at the sounds of Konoha's populace at large, the relentless heat of the sun, and the steady thrum of life chakra.

For a moment she can pretend she's at peace.

Her basket is nearly full as she picks ripe fruit and vegetables, her plants are growing at a fast rate, thriving on the nature chakra that thrums around them. Fortunately, her appetite likens to a blackhole and she is in the midst of a growth spurt—or so she hopes, at the age of six she still looks like a toddler. Naruto shoves strawberries and blueberries into her mouth and pulls out a kunai to carve open a melon, the pieces are promptly devoured.

There's a sudden thrill that raises her hackles, a warning that the preliminary perimeter of her security seal has been breached.

Instantly Naruto is alert and suspicious. She reaches out and recognizes a familiar chakra signature, untainted by the edo tensei.

Naruto heads out of the green house, basket in hand. She grasps the latch to the make shift door she inserted into the roof and jumps into her apartment below.

She reminds herself to breath.

In the four months she had returned to the past Naruto has avoided interacting with her precious people. The many familiar faces trigger echoes of their deaths, reminders of her failure. This is her first encounter with a long dead nakama.

Naruto opens the door and beams, "Hokage-jiji!"

A small, fond smile graces the fire shadow's wizened features, "Naruto-kun I've heard great things about you from the Academy. I thought you might want Ichiraku's ramen to celebrate."

"Yatta!"

Somehow, she manages to grin even wider.

* * *

 Gluttons always elicit contradictory responses.

Sarutobi Hiruzen is no different, much as he wondered with Minato and Kushina, he wonders once again,  _where does it all go?_

Naruto has devoured her fourth bowl, greeted Ayame and Teuchi with novel happiness, and answered the Sandaime's questions regarding her health, how she is doing in the Academy, and what her current hobbies are.

"Seals," Naruto says as she slurps down her noodles.

"Fuinjutsu?" Sarutobi asks, a note of surprise in his tone, "What brought on this interest?"

Naruto's expression is vulpine, an impenetrable mask to hide that she is a lying liar that lies, but she says with the upmost sincerity, "Pranks."

"Naruto," The Hokage begins, voice chiding, "We've talk about this."

"Yah, yah, yah, old man," Naruto says rudely. On a more enthusiastic note, she says, "I've gotta practice being a shinobi somehow, fuinjutsu is easy and fun!"

Sarutobi raises both his eyebrows, "Not everyone would agree with your opinion Naruto-kun. Few shinobi understand the fuinjutsu, there's a reason it's rarely taught outside a few basic seals."

Naruto tilts her head curiously, "Really? Then they must be stupid!"

The Hokage shakes his head in exasperation, "I wouldn't say that Naruto, now tell me what your dream is?"

Naruto's expression remains vulpine, but her voice becomes steel as she simply says, "Protect my precious people."


	5. Chapter 5

The Sandaime listens indulgently as Naruto waxes poetic over fuinjutsu, and rants in indignation over the prices of chakra paper and quality ink.

Once she pauses, he takes the opportunity to ask, “Will you show me the projects you’ve been working on?’

Naruto hesitates.

This is the fifth meeting Naruto has had with the Hokage in the last two weeks since she’s been accelerated to the fifth level class. Usually the Sandaime treated her to ramen, however, this time they are in the Hokage’s office. This concerns Naruto, makes her weary. Particularly since the privacy seals in the office have been erected.

In her wake, there were now whispers proclaiming her a genius, quite possibility a prodigy seen once in a generation—the irony is not lost on her. But those are the positive rumors, outside the sunshine and daisies of the grape vine, the malicious rumors spread like fire, bringing tales of the Kyuubi’s influence.

Perhaps those public outings with the Hokage were to debunk these rumors. If the Professor of Shinobi is not fooled by the Kyuubi brat, then perhaps these rumors do not have merit, or that the Sandaime is aware of these rumors and is showing the village jinchurriki is a valued asset regardless of the Kyuubi’s influence, Naruto thinks cynically.

Instead Naruto grins broadly, bites her thumb, and smears the blood down her forearm. Then a matrix blooms on her skin, igniting in a flare of chakra and a well-worn note book is summoned forth

For a few moments Naruto looks critically through her notes, leafing through the pages before she settles on one.

The Hokage leans over curiously as she places his thrice damned paperwork on the office floor, and then unfolds a scroll, laying it out beside her notebook.

“This is the seal on my arm, it’s a storage seal that I augmented, I took the metrics I use for my stasis seal and applied it here,” Naruto points to the small pattern of metrics, circling the large dimension of the storage seal, “My idea was that anything can stored away without suffering damage, and come out in the same condition it went in. Originally this was created to conserve food, like ramen.” Naruto says sheepishly. “But I’ve found that…”

When she completes her explanation, she looks at him anxiously. She’s never shown any one her seals, let alone explained her process.

“Huh. What about one of your original works?”

Naruto furrows her brow in thought, and then flips to a more recent page. “I call this hear no evil see no evil. It's supposed to dull the senses.”

She has the fire shadow’s rapt attention, and when she offers to let him read her notes for the finer details, he does so without cause to repine.

For a few moments there's silence.

“Well Naruto, color me impressed. It seems you have a keen understanding of fuinjutsu.”

The Hokage gives her a measuring look, “Tell me what do you know of the Uzumaki clan?”

Naruto scowls, “Not enough, the ninja archive library is sadly lacking information. I know that Konoha was once allied with Uzushiogakure, the Uzumaki were infamous for their seals and that ultimately led to their demise in the Second Shinobi War.”

“Ah,” Hiruzen seems to age as he sighs, “By the time we were informed of Uzu’s distress call it was too late, Mizu and Iwa had already launched their attack. The destruction of Uzushiogakure was one of our greatest regrets.”

Naruto looks down and shrugs, “I only looked up the Uzumaki clan ‘cause I was curious. I figured my parents were refugees, but I couldn’t find them in the public records, so they must have been from one of the neighboring towns, or shinobi and their files are classified.”

Hiruzen gives Naruto a calculating look, “You’ve thought this through, you’ve researched this, what have you found out?”

She’s not blind to the subtle release of sekka. She chooses her words carefully. “When I started experimenting with drawing seals on my skin, I wanted to use localized chakra to ignite the seals instead of blood. That’s when I found a seal on my stomach. I decided to study it.

“A seal that complex is difficult to understand, whoever created was a genius. But I figured out it, the seal is holding something back, something powerful.

“Hokage-jiji I’m six, but I’m not stupid.” Naruto stresses, she looks at him with pleading eyes. “I looked at the bigger picture, my birthday is on October 10th, the Kyuubi attacked on October 10th, and the villagers reactions to me. I don’t know who my parents were, but they must have been close to the previous Hokage to allow him seal the Kyuubi into me.”

Silence comes again, this time tangible on the tongue.

The Sandaime heaves a long sigh, “No, you are not daft, you defy expectations. When I enrolled you in the Academy I did not expect you to excel. Nor did I expect you to find out your jinchurriki status, nonetheless with your interest in fuinjutsu it was inevitable. I know you have questions regarding your parents and one day I will tell you of them, but know they were great Konoha shinobi, and they loved you dearly.”

Naruto pouts, and mumbles, “Fine. I just want to know why I was chosen.”

“Naruto your status as a jinchurriki is an s-class secret, no one is to speak of it unless they wish for execution. You should be treated as a hero.”

“Well I’m not,” Naruto mutters archly.

“We did not foresee Konoha citizens alienation of you trickling down to the your generation,” The Sandaime’s tone is sardonic, “Call it foolhardy optimism.”

“I get that they’re grieving and I’m a convenient scapegoat. But that’s okay, I’m going to prove them wrong I’ll be more than the Kyuubi brat. I'll become a splendid ninja and protect my precious people. Believe it!"

Naruto will always defy expectations. The Sandaime smiles, “Did you know the Shodaime’s wife was an Uzumaki?”

Naruto shakes her head in the negative.

“Her name was Uzumaki Mito and she too was the jinchurriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.”

* * *

A doppelganger in the form of a clone, enhanced with a durability seal to mimic the blazing inferno that is her chakra signature, is left as a ploy for the ANBU that guard her.

She does not interlopers present during for the task she’s undertaking.

Konoha is a beacon for nature chakra, Naruto immerses herself in it.

She stows herself away in a caravan carrying the goods of a merchant to a neighboring civilian village, a few kilometers on the well beaten path, Naruto absconds into the surrounding forest.

(Sarutobi Hiruzen had predicted Naruto would graduate from the Academy by summer’s end. She was bored to tears there and needed a challenge. Thus forth the Sandaime had given her a proposition. Uzumaki Mito had left an impenetrable defense system in place for Konoha, however, a portion of it was unfinished, and the extent of its capabilities were unknown in the wake of Mito’s death. The secrets of Ushiogakure’s fuinjutsu were long gone, but the Sandaime wanted her to study the defense seal system, and then give him her thoughts on how it could be completed and improved. He told her to think of it as testing her mettle.

A capable seal user was rare, a seal master rarer. She was aware that her skills would be a boon to Konoha’s shinobi forces, outside of Jiraiya of the Sennin, for the first time in six years a combat seal master would grace the battle field.)

In the forest surrounding Konoha Naruto stops, unseals a scroll and proceeds to study the schematic of Konoha's defense system. A few more kilometers east, and she’ll be at the perimeter.


	6. Chapter 6

From early morning to mid afternoon she has traversed the distance from the boundaries of the seal dimension to the heart of the seal, Konoha itself. She stops at the expansive stone wall semi-circling Leaf, the second layer of the seal.

She calls chakra to her hands, places her hands on the wall and watches as dimensions, metrics and symbols unfold.

Uzumaki Mito must have become a paranoid nutter that took Uzumaki's demise as an omen.

For she gave Konoha what Whirlpool lacked, a secure defense. And from what Naruto's seen of it, it's a work of sheer genius and artistry.

In the trees that are great and mighty in height, pulsing with the chakra of the Shodai—life chakra. A genjutsu is woven into the very foundations of the trees protecting Konoha. Here is the preliminary boundary of Leaf's defense, enemies would become lost in a labyrinth of trees.

The second layer of the seal has a repetitious pattern of the kanji "shi", however, when she squints, around those words were metrics in pairs of four for explosions and… _wow…_ was that a manipulation gravity and space? Naruto grins madly at the havoc a seal with those elements could do, she makes a note of it. The third layer consisted of the dome that protected Konoha, it fluctuated when the barrier team changed shifts, this was something that could be exploited.

She follows the length of the stone wall with her infused chakra hands. The dome was also breached, the stone wall damaged from the Kyuubi attack, there’s a patch to stabilize the barrier that has Ero-sennin’s signature all over it.

She has an idea of why the wall has yet to be raised. She wonders idly if there had been an attempt using Tenzo’s mokuton, but the lack of a seal master made completing it impossible for Jiraiya seldom ventured into Konoha.   

This is something Naruto can fix.

Finding the flaws, weak points, ameliorating seals is something she’s become well versed in.

Nevertheless, It's the final layer of the complex seal that she’s struggling to grasp; a challenge. For the first time since her trek back into the past, Naruto feels excitement.

She wants to finish what she suspects Jiraiya quite possibly half assed. What her parents never had the chance to tackle. But first she needs to plan and find more books on fuinjutsu.

If Hokage-jiji had Mito’s schematics for the defense system, then maybe Whirlpool’s secrets are not completely lost to the winds. Naruto has every intention of wheedling that information and scrolls from the Hokage.  

* * *

  
Uchiha Shisui comes across a strange sight.  
  
The training site he uses is seldom frequented by other shinobi. Training ground seventeen is located near the remnants of the Kyuubi attack. Dilapidated buildings, skewed vegetation, and damaged walls make up this sector of Konoha, and while there are plans to return these building to their former glory, they have fallen to the wayside. Shisui will take advantage of the quiet this place provides.  
  
Still it is quite perplexing to come across anyone here. Civilians are banned from training grounds. And yet there's a blonde kid/toddler, in an eye watering orange jumpsuit, drawing(?) in the middle of his favorite training ground.

No matter, this can be remedied.

He approaches with same quickness that is steadily earning him the epithet "Shunshin no Shisui."

When he abruptly appears the kid isn't startled, rather he barely glances up and goes back to drawing.

"Hey kid, only shinobi are permitted on training grounds. It's dangerous for civilians to be in this area."

The boy pauses, and Shisui tenses as chakra flares, and then a plume of smoke appears, and a scroll unfolds in the boy's hand. Shisui's eyebrows rise as he takes in the Hokage's official mission stamp, then he reads the text. 'One Uzumaki Naruto, under special jurisdiction of Hokage, is to complete a mission concerning Konoha's integrity. Any details are under S class clearance and may be divulged at the Hokage's behest or Uzumaki Naruto's.'

The glaring connotation is not lost on Shisui. _Mind your own damn business_.

The blond kid, apparently Uzumaki Naruto looks at him mockingly, rolls up the scroll that then disappears in a poof of smoke.

"But you're not a ninja!" Shisui refutes childishly.

The blond ignores him.

"I'm still using this training ground!"

The kid looks at him and rolls his eyes in exasperation. He then says his first word from their entire interaction, "Fuin."

Shisui gapes as the kid's arms glow, symbols appearing on his skin. A golden light appears above his head, forming a barrier that encompasses the kid in a dome.

Once the barrier goes up, the kid glares at him with hard blue eyes. Daring him to be a nuisance.

Shisui sticks out his tongue.

The blond gives him the one finger salute.

Shisui kicks the barrier.  
  
\------  
  
The second time Shisui encounters the blond kid is four days later.

The moment he touches the ground of training ground seventeen, Shisui does a double take. The boy is hanging upside from one of the branches of a skewed tree. The barrier encompasses him in a sphere, his face buried in a book, held securely in his hands.

Honestly, it’s not the strangest site he’s seen. Shinobi are not the sanest lot. Some idiosyncrasies are necessary to cope with carnage they see in the field.

He shrugs and goes about the motions.  
  
\-----

Two weeks later, after leading his fourth mission as a chunin, is the third time he encounters Uzumaki.

The mission was a success and he really wants try the new jutsu he copied (read: stole). The sight he comes upon is a familiar one, a barrier around the blond, but this time a giant scroll accompanies him.

The kid's looking intently at the scroll and writing quick notes in a notebook.

Their first meeting was hostile, Shisui decides to let bygones be bygones. And officially greet the person sharing (taking over) his training field.

He plasters is face to the barrier, and knocks on its solid surface. The blond starts at the ridiculous sight he makes, "Gahhhhhhh!" Dropping his ink brush and note book, scattering loose papers.

Muffled by the barrier, Shisui amicably says, "Hi, I'm Uchiha Shisui!"

This is how Uchiha Shisui meets Uzumaki Naruto.  



	7. Chapter 7

She awakens, throat raw, apartment echoing with her screams.  
  
There is nothing novel about this.  
  
The litany to breath is followed, along with the routine to sit still and count, waiting for the after images to blur and her racing heart to calm.   
  
The ANBU detail that guards her remains ignorant of her night terrors and troubled sleep patterns. Naruto has made this so; her security system shelters her from all interlopers.  
  
Her dreams of carnage and decay. The deaths of her precious people and comrades, of horrors that were the Fourth Shinobi War are her burdens to carry.   
  
This does not mean she ceases the endeavor for a dreamless sleep.  
  
She trains in her pocket dimension, she devours the knowledge the ninja archive library provides, she attends the academy, she works on the confounding final sequence of Mito's seal.   
  
She stretches herself thin in the hopes of exhaustion.  
  
But even at this age, this child's body retains the boon of the Uzumaki vitality, and the steady stream of Kurama's chakra leave her with stamina that many a shinobi would envy.  
  
Is it possible to have the stamina of a thousand soldiers but still be bone weary?  
  
Naruto has always defied expectations, and in this there no difference.  
  
If her nights are dreamless, then her days are haunted by long, evil shadows. The vision of vital Konoha in the now, overshadowed by the wasteland of before leaves her panicked, borderline hysteric. These moments rarely happen, but when the madness stirs, Kurama rouses from his apathetic mien and the litany to breathe begins again.  
  
No sleep shall be found now. Today shall be one of those days, she looks outside, and the sun is rising steadily towards it's zenith.  
  
Normally she wouldn't venture out her apartment, but she knows it's confining walls will eventually make her want to claw at her throat in suffocation.   
  
So, she stumbles out of bed, through her morning ablutions, and then out into the wild.  
  
Naruto wanders dazedly through a familiar route. Finding herself perched on a stool, staring intently into ramen broth.  
  
Tuechi and Ayame watch her in concern— _she’s only eaten one bowl of ramen!_ But after her initial mute greeting and order, Naruto is quite content to ignore the world around her.  
  
\----  
  
There in the catacombs, the bowels below, lies the wonderful aroma of chemical cleaners over blood, vomit, mildew and other questionable bodily fluids. This represent his home away from home, the torture and interrogation force.  
  
Konoha's Intelligence Division is everything he dreamed of. His apprenticeship is held jointly under Analysis Team and Torture/Interrogation Force and the Networking Systems Team.   
  
Uchiha Shisui is an extortionist. Since the age of three his ears have been keen. His command of Konoha's grape vine put it gossiping patrons to shame. His work and machinations before earning his hitai-ate, gained the ire of his mother, the amused pride of his father, and the interest of Morino Ibiki. Uchiha’s walking the halls of the Intelligence Division isn’t an anomaly, but in the recent years it definitely isn’t commonplace.     
  
Since his elevation in rank, his security clearance has also risen. What he once observed and assisted in, he can now participate in, and today he led his first interrogation with a genjutsu he’s had months to hone. But now that the session is over, and pertinent information has been obtained, Shisui is now bored.

This state of mind seldom ends well.  
  
Therefore, when mischief beckons him forth, Shisui follows happily. Luring him on a tether to like minds, or rather leads him to the blazing inferno that is Uzumaki Naruto. Leading him to the strange site of the blond at a food stand, staring into a ramen bowl as if it held all the answers to the universe.  
  
"Yo, Naruto-kun!"  
  
What makes him stop short is the lack of ramen bowls stacked on top of each other. In his short acquaintance with Naruto, the blind’s brilliance with seals and love for ramen were some of his defining traits.  
  
This sight drives him to place his hand on Naruto's forehead, when he doesn't react. Shisui tilts his head back and frowns at the dark bruises beneath his eyes.  
  
Shisui tsked.  
  
"I swear, you baby geniuses always seem to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders!"  
  
Naruto smiles mirthlessly.   
  
"Nope! Nope this won't do at all," Shisui declares, "You’re a kid, so we’re gonna to have fun. What do you wanna do? The park, movie theater, ice cream..." Shisui continues to list off suggestions as Naruto nods his head in the negative.  
  
After the 15th idea is rejected, Shisui throws his hands up in surrender. "Well then what are your suggestions!?"   
  
A manic glint enters Naruto’s eyes, and he signs with shinobi code, "Anything--"  
  
"Holy shit, you know shinobi code! Why are you using shinobi code!? Is this a trauma thing!? Who hurt Naru-kun!?" Shisui shouts in indignation.  
  
Naruto remains quiet and waits for his tangent to subside, then signs, "You said anything?" The manic gleam in his eyes does not subside, "What are your thoughts on pranking Jonin headquarters?"  
  
Shisui shrugs, he's not a Jonin... yet, why should he care?  
  
 


	8. Chapter 8

Sometimes there’s a voice in her head that shouts “Naruto, _no_!” Particularly, when she’s about to cause some form of mayhem.

Sometimes that voice has the deadpan tone of a scarecrow, sometimes the exasperated tones of Hokage-jiji or Ero-sennin.

Sometimes that voice will take on the desperate tones of her mother or father, sometimes both, or what she thinks their voices would sound like had they been around to witness her shenanigans. But sometimes… sometimes when the mania is at its zenith that voice would take on a litany of all five.

But regardless of her conscious feeling guilt, Naruto resolutely tells it to fuck off.

In this moment, that voice sounds like Hokage-jiji telling her, “Naruto, NO!”

And Naruto grins.

There is nothing quite like life or death experiences to bond people together. Or in this case causing mayhem and damning the consequences.

In the wake of providing Shisui with a henge seal, shrugging at his look of askance when she fails to provide the same disguise for herself. And then proceeding to use Shisui's mastery over the Shunshin, and Naruto's stealth to rig storage seals full of exploding flour bags in every break room in Jonin HQ. And then watching havoc ensue once a break room reach a five-man capacity and then release a plume of flour is a sight of beauty.

It's sewing chaos on a smaller scale, but this not the rush Naruto is looking.

It's the inevitability of allowing herself to be spotted outside one of the break rooms while grinning. It’s the appearance of a jonin at the window closest to their perch, covered in the white substance, eyes glinting with certain death, hand coming to their throat creating a slashing gesture. It’s staring back at this jonin, then pointing and laughing uproariously with Shisui.

It's the appearance of the ANBU retinue that watches over her, one operative radiating irritation from the tree branch opposing she and Shisui's position, sporting a porcelain dog mask with a shock of silver hair that conjures a pang within her chest, but its one Naruto happily ignores.

It's the rush of adrenaline when Naruto defiantly stares back and refuses to abide the ANBU operative’s order, then grabbing the cackling Uchiha, conjuring one hundred shadow clones in her and Shisui’s henged image to leave false trails. Then using a Kawarimi to replace she and Shisui and leading a group of vexed ANBU and jonin on a merry chase across Konoha, using this as an opportunity to train in stealth.

* * *

Over the next two weeks Naruto’s and Shisui’s reign of terror continues. Despite the complaints, death threats, and surreptitious susurrations of the Kyuubi brat at large. The Hokage takes no action, for would take away his entertainment. Besides every time Naruto pulled a prank, she would come back later with a legion of clones and clean up the site of her mischief, leaving neither hide nor hair of her presence.

But one prank remained untouched, regardless of the attempts to reverse it.

This is how Naruto ends up before the Hokage, finally facing the consequences of her actions.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's lips twitch in amusement. Before him are two significantly large stacks of paperwork, he gestures to them, “Somehow this pile of paperwork has found its way from the Konoha military police force to my desk. And this pile is from my various shinobi forces. Both are formal complaints filed regarding your alteration of Konoha’s water supply.” The Hokage picks up one of the papers from the first stack, rolls his eyes, and proceeds to read a pompous complaint, “‘The desecration of our village will not be born. We, the Toyotomi family, demand the culprit be found and charged to the fullest extent of their crime.’”

For the last week the water source for Konoha had been the color orange. Even the water brought in the bazaar or neighborhood stores carried the bright hue.

The water had been tested, it was not toxic nor did it carry any impurities… the water was just orange.

“What do you have to say for yourself?”

Naruto grins, all enlarged canines and gap toothed glory.

“Will you reverse the seal you placed on Konoha’s water sources?”

Naruto tilts her head and ruminates on her response, she shake her head in the negative, “Nah it’ll wear off in a week or two.”

“Fine then,” The Hokage's voice is stern, but his eyes shine with mirth. “Your punishment will begin this weekend. You are tasked with updating Konoha Hospital's seal matrix.”

Naruto shrugs, its another opportunity to fortify and strengthen Leaf.

“Your accomplish Uchiha Shisui,” The Hokage is openly laughing at Naruto’s gaping expression, but really it’s not surprising considering she rarely associated with anyone. "Will face similar consequences from his shisou.”

Naruto pouts.

“Now tell me of your recent progress.” Here the Hokage perform the ram seal, and the security seals ignite to life. 


	9. Chapter 9

She takes cautious steps up, her trek fails to leave the imprint of her sandaled feet.  
  
Her chakra control is still shaky at best, but she scaled the side of the building with relative success.  
  
The glow of chakra surrounds her hand.  
On the hard surface she places it, watching in wonder as the seal matrix etches its secrets forward.  
  
In these etching are foreign chakra signatures, and her curious chakra encounters a familiar one. A faint echo of a raging inferno so similar to her own.  
  
Uzumaki Kushina once worked on this seal complex.

Naruto smiles.  
  
It's a consolation, when she attempted to wheedle potential Uzumaki relics that would be hers for all intents and purposes, that idea was promptly debunked by Sandaime-sama. There were no ancient tomes or crumbling, archiac scrolls harboring secrets of fuinjutsu and the nature of the Uzumaki vitality.  
  
What was left where left were scant few journals and notes left from the Uzumakis that migrated to Konoha. These journals were promised to her once she graduated, a stipulation that had changed from her gaining chunin rank, due to her rapid maturity. Her village idiot persona was becoming a thing of the past, she was carving an image of a keen, perceptive child, or so she's like to think.  
  
She had the distinct impression these journals belonged to her parents and contained ideas, research and thoughts on fuinjutsu. And she idly wondered if the Sandaime would then reveal their identities, or knew she had inkling of who they were.

However, there were more books detailing seals, ones Naruto did not have access to due to her status as a civilian, and once she had her hitai-ate she would gain access to that section of the ninja archive library. Books that were scant in numbers, but held knowledge she craved to devour.  
  
The journals and books could quite possibility have insight on what she was missing regarding Mito's seals.  
  
Mito's seals continued to confound and challenge her. While she had a vague idea of what the unfinished archane runes of the final defense could be capable of, she want to experiment small and then conduct a series of trails. She'lll have the Hokage's official seal once she comes up with a proposal for her plans. For now she's been given the approval to rectify the flaw in Konoha's barrier and hopefully give some reprieve to the Konoha barrier team.  
  
But first she must study the arcane symbols before her and then install her own runic work.

* * *

  
**_BEFORE_**  
  
_It is a fruitless endeavor._  
  
_And it is not the first time she's done it, nor does she suspect it will be the last._  
  
_Nonetheless the conclusion of the search is the same, Naruto feels nothing._  
  
_Around her is bereft of chakra. The planet is dying, the atmosphere is thinning, all energy drawn to the epicenter where the god tree resides._  
  
_And she is alone._  
  
_Not truly, never truly._  
  
_She reaches out to a familiar chakra signature, and finds nothing._  
  
_Her eyes widen, her pupils dilate. With loneliness came fear as her companion, embracing her with cold, unwelcomed arms._  
  
_She quickly absconds into her mindscape. She searches through the towering trees. Once or thrice she stops in a field of flowers, on the limb of a tree, around the bend of rivers. And above her the sky becomes a tumultous gray, the clouds dark and low, the roll of thunder._  
  
_When she has exhausted every avenue, searched the expansive landscape of her mind; it is empty. She's grasped by the sudden, unrelenting grip of panic. Her breaths come quicker, and her mind begins to race._  
  
_Kurama's absence is not a first, but it is the first she could not sense the biju's presence at all._  
  
_With the destruction of the ninja world, Kurama's indifference was matched by his slowly dissipating presence. The shift was subtle, and when she brought up the phenomenon Kurama cryptically said this cycle was ending, and soon he would be called for another purpose._  
  
_If Kurama is gone that means her time is up. But she's not ready, the seal is not ready, everyone is truly lost to her._  
  
_"Kurama!" She yells plaintively, "Kurama!"_  
  
_When he does not heed to her fifth frantic cry. Naruto falls to her knees, face damp from tears and snot._  
  
**_"Brat."_**  
  
_At the gruff voice her head snaps up._  
  
_He does not appear at once, his presence is hazy, an intangible form attempting to become solid once more. Naruto has to blink a few times, thinking perhaps it's the damp of her eyes, skewing the image of Kurama for she swears she sees wings, and the afterimage of a thousand tails. But what she sees is true, what she sees is an echo, and she has to look away, she must look away, her hackles raise and her senses run haywire. For it is not safe to look until he has reformed, back into the form this plane has created for him._  
  
_"Where did you go?" She demands, ever fearless._  
  
_**"Foolish child,"** He laughs, **"You may turn around."** _  
  
_"Uh-un you said that last time, and what happened!? My eyes bled and nearly exploded."_  
  
_Kurama laughs gleefully._  
  
_"Now where the hell did you go, attebayo!?" Naruto yells, arms gesticulating wildly. And she finally begins to feel the solid presence of him. The vast emptiness becoming no more. Naruto still does not turn to face him, and waits patiently for his explanation._  
  
_**"Persistent idiot child, to look for a way home,"** Kurama says cryptically. **"The dimensions are shifting, the veil is thin,"** the biju says almost mournfully and Naruto peaks over her shoulder, **"That is the way home."** Something ancient, and eldritch shifts behind his eyes._  
  
_And Naruto has to look away again, for something unfathomable crawls up and down her spine._  
  
_She is reminded once more that Kurama is not all that he seems._

* * *

Naruto sits within her pocket dimension, around clones are engaged in Uzuken katas.  
  
However, Naruto's attention is diverged, in her hands is a seed. She calls chakra in her hands watching as the seed blossoms and blooms, her hands filled with warmth. Then the chakra shifts, the intent for life, for cellular growth perishes as she facilitates the plants death. Her eyes are riveted as the plant rapidly wilts and then turn to earth.  
  
_Dust to dust._  
  
This is fascinating. Her mind begins to race with questions and possibilities.  
  
This changes things, well certain points of her plans. She wonders if this can be used on beings of flesh and blood, to render what was living dead on a molecular level, if she can control how quickly or slowly necrosis can go.  
  
She pauses, and is struck by a sudden whim. She lets the earth fall from her hands and forms an orb, slowly feeding it chakra. As the orb grows, she forms a smaller orb within its circumference, and then another. Naruto watches this with wide eyes and bated breath, and then introduces elemental chakra into the two smaller spheres. For a moment the jutsu holds, two rasenshuriken within a gudodama, and then collapses in upon itself. Coalescing and then exploding, the aftermath leaving Naruto with deep bodily gashes and her hands a mangled mess of blood, flesh, bone and ruined nerves.  
  
She has suffered worse, but she screams nonetheless. Her clones pause their training and take in the scene of her injured, then scramble over to her, ready for the arduous task of helping her reset her bones as they heal back.  
  
It takes an hour, Naruto grits her teeth, bites her lips bloody and has to reset most of her fingers thrice, before the damage is healed. She raises her hands and accesses them, the skin is smooth and their movement stiff but mostly unhindered, it would do for now.  
  
Now she had burning questions. What she attempted to do, nay almost succeeded, should not be possible. While she has retained her knowledge, her muscle memory, chakra control, and discipline were lost and that is something she is attempting to rectify. She's under no illusions that it would come easy, but she was making steady progress. Nevertheless, what she just did would have taken at least a year, perhaps two to attempt in this child body of hers.  
  
Something here is not quite right, something here is does not belong, something here is wrong.  
  
"Kurama..."  
  
Naruto turns to the only being with answers, "Is this your doing?"  
  
Her vision shifts as the world around her darkens. The kyuubi appears before her, shrouded in a golden aura, massive head resting lazily on his paws. He does not diegn to open his eyes as he state:  
  
_**"You will need every advantage at your behest."**_  
  
"Is this... wise for you to do?" Naruto questions hesitantly, but her blue eyes are sharp. "You said you were bound by rules, that your actions were limited to whatever role you had to play in every cycle."  
  
_**"The ties that bind me are snapping,"** _ Kurama says simply.  
  
"That is why the seal worked, why were we able to in time. At least that is why I came back in one piece, in the correct universe," Naruto deduces.  
  
Kurama snorts, ** _'And just when I wonder if you are truly stupid, you surprise me with a bout of intelligence."_**  
  
Naruto makes a sound of indignation, and yells a fuck off, Kurama ignores her. **_"Yes, time has been tampered with, I've sped up your progress. As your ally-"_**  
  
"Friend," Naruto corrects. Kurama gives her a gimblet eye.  
  
**_"-As your ally, this is part the support I will give you."_**  
  
"Yah, yah, I hear ya, but still are you sure your interfering is a good idea?" Naruto questions once more.  
  
**_"Naruto you made a promise, I will have my reckoning."_**  
  
"And I never back down on my promises-"  
  
**_"Beleive it."_ ** Kurama finishes dryly. Some would question the sanity of an individual who would promise to help the remnant of a primordial being find a passage home to at the risk of unraveling the very fabric of the ninja world.  
  
It's simply one of the insurmountable tasks she must fulfill.  
  
And where Naruto is concerned, expect the unexpected.


	10. Chapter 10

Outside training ground seventeen, in the quadrant of Konoha that has yet to be reconstructed and repopulated, where dilapidated buildings remain to tell the tale of the kyuubi's thrashing tails, stands Naruto.

There are many ways she can go about this, but the whole world's a stage, for she always has a retinue of elite guards watching over her.

Her unorthodox methods of implementing seals on a mass scale shall remain shrouded in mystery. She does not want unwanted attention outside the picture she has painted of herself.

For now, Naruto places her hands to the earth, ensuring she has removed the taint of Kurama's malevolent chakra from the surrounding area. The nature chakra hones in on her presence and races to follow her commands, but Naruto pulls away before a forest can sprout forward.

Satisfied, she places her hand in a ram, "Doton: Doryūheki!"

The stone structure begins to form from the remnants of the destroyed stone walls, spreading upward, lengthening and tunneling downward to root into the earth below.

With the structure’s execution complete, Naruto bites her thumb and smears a length of blood down her arm, there a storage matrix appears and from that she summons forth a large ink well, concentrated in nature chakra.

Beside her a clone appears in a plume of smoke, then henges itself into a large calligraphy brush.

Her usually urge is to ameliorate seals, but here is a work of genius, she wants to do the original work justice. She's memorized the runes that make up Konoha's barrier, each of her brush strokes is carefully etched, one wrong brush stroke can spell disaster.

She sticks out her tongue in concentration, sweat beading at brow and nape. Hours pass before she finally finishes, she steps back a few feet to scrutinize her work. Naruto squints, looking for minute details and potential mistakes. She pulls out the barrier seal schematic and compares them.

Once she's satisfied, Naruto raises a hand in a hand seal, "Fuin!"

A surge of chakra and arcane symbols glow. A gold sphere briefly encompasses Konoha at large, before dispersing in sparks of residual chakra.

Naruto looks up and grins at the sight.

* * *

 

She reengages in the habit of marking her calendar. Counting down to the date encircled in red.

There are some precautions and plans she needs to execute in the coming weeks.

With her garden, her haggling under henge in the bazaar and overall frugal spending, Naruto has created a decent nest egg for herself. Once she graduates, the monthly stipend she receives will cease, and Naruto keenly remembers the compensation from D-ranked missions. Relying on her nest egg will not suffice, an empty gama-chan is not prospect she wants to face.

Therefore, she's going to start establishing herself as a seal master. The price of chakra paper is abhorrent, but with the ability to combine elements she will create her own chakra paper. She is going to take the ameliorated seals she's created and make them on a mass scale. The seals will go to a select few ninja to spread the word, then she will approach a weapons shop and see if they are willing to exclusively carry her seals and draw up a beneficial contract.

Naruto's seals of choice are storage seals, elemental seals, stasis seals, henge seal and the experimental seal that discreetly draws on a ninja's chakra, storing it just in case they ever need a chakra boost or are suffering from chakra exhaustion.

Fuinjutsu is a complex art. There are commonplace seals that are taught to students before graduation. More complex seals such as a counter curse seal that can be taught by a competent sensei or read about and self taught by a diligent student. But then there are seals created by ingenuity, constructing elements in matrices, etching archaic symbols for a Devine component.

Sometimes she wonders why Kakashi-sensei never bothered to teach basic sealing to team seven. She knows he was more than competent, he may not have had the spark of creativity, but Naruto's father had taught him. Naruto knows she would have benefited from fuinjutsu had she been taught earlier, it's one of the few subjects that grasp her full attention.

It mattered not in the grand scheme of things, and she shakes away those sobering musings.

Naruto decides to leave a sample of seals and pamphlets explaining each seals' uses for the ANBU retinue that frequently guards her. From there she knows rumors of her seals would spread; ninja were gossip mongers and made their trade in secrets.

She then drops off samples and pamphlets at the Hokage tower, leaving a sign that boldly proclaims free seals!

She then heads towards her next tester, whom she knows will eagerly sample her products and let it be known to the rumor mill:

“Hey Shisui!”

He looks up from the microscope and greets her brightly, “Oh! Hi Naruto-chan.”

See, this is what she likes about Shisui. His nonchalance, like her sudden appearance is the normal thing in the world. The Uchiha doesn’t even question how she’s broken into the Interrogation and Torture ward, let alone how she managed to get into the lab where he was working on poisons and hallucinogens.

“Whatcha working on?”

“Ooooo, a poison that makes the victims throat up their intestines.” Shisui looks positively delighted by the prospect.

Naruto blinks.

“What ever happened to that gas thingy you wanted to try and use as a smoke bomb substitute?” She queries.

Shisui wilts, “According to Anko-senpai it was deemed too unstable, it would have endangered or killed both enemies and allies. She says she admires my gumption to cause mass death across a battlefield. They never let me have any fun.”

“Well shit, that sucks.” Naruto consoles, but it’s a thought to put away for later, “I have a proposition for you.”

Shisui perks up, always ready to join the madness Naruto sews.

"What are your thoughts on being guinea pig for my seals?"

"Hm, sounds fun," Shisui shrugs. What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

  
Perched beneath the shade of a tree, he thinks.

Heavy weighs the crown.

Sometimes Uchiha Itachi wondered if he knew the knowledge he has now as a young child, perhaps he would have made different choices. The ease he showed in accomplishing even the most dauntless tasks. Would he have understood the burdens that would have followed? He sees alternatives other than the path set before him, the path he chose, and knows there were/are outside forces and anomalies he had/has no control over.

His ruminations often led him to ask questions and seeks answers he'll never quite find.

As a young child his mother would say he possessed an old soul, one that carried the burdens of many lifetimes. His father joked he was 100 years to early to ask the questions he did. From his inquisitive mind came statements of particular salience that made his father stare or frown at him, or cause his mother to smooth his furrowed brow and mutter, 'from out of the mouths of babes.'

Right now his musings were being interrupted by a stick poking him. While he valiantly tries to ignore it, when the next target appears to be his ear, Itachi snaps the stick in half and looks up to glare at his cousin. “Really Shisui.”

Shisui doesn’t even have the decency to look sheepish, he simply flips down from his position on the tree limb and shrugs. “You baby genius’ always look constipated.”

“I’m only 2 years younger than you.”

“Yes, but I’ve been a shinobi longer, just call me senpai!”

“….No.”

“Itachi-chan, what happened to you!? You were so cute as a child!? Where did I go wrong!?”

Itachi rolls his eyes.

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The response to the fic has been great. I've written this story mostly to help me combat the upheavals of life. Thanks for the kudos, bookmarks and subscriptions.

The hostility is tangible on the tongue. Simmering under the surface, but there nonetheless.  
  
Naruto bares her teeth, a mockery of a smile. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, my hobbies are creating seals, trying new ramen flavors and gardening. My dream is to establish a sealing corps, become a combat fuinjutsu specialist and protect my precious people."  
  
This is the first time she has attended the Academy, for the final exam she appeared. Her graduation came with little fanfare, she wanted to be present to gain back her hitai-ate. The feeling of tying her hitai-ate back around her head was inexplicable, like a missing part of her identity has been restored.  
  
She's now apart the shinobi force. One of the boons of the Hokage's arsenal of weapons, the jinchurriki.  
  
She is placed in a genin pool. A team of six students, under three chunin instructors on the track to becoming tobektsu jonin. When Naruto originally graduated, her cohort was part of a baby boom, and had the benefit of a larger shinobi force, meaning jonin sensei to teach them. This time when Naruto graduates it is in the wake of the third shinobi war and Kyuubi attack. The academy courses do not carry the expedited curriculum of war efforts, but they are still rigorous from the demand to fill in the missing ranks.  
  
Now she is meeting her team and sensei, the second time she has stepped onto Academy grounds in so many months. And considering the reception she receiving-- hostility and suspicions from her sensei, hostility and jealousy from her team mates--Naruto will continue her usual pattern. She will send a reinforced clone in her stead for training and d-ranked missions.  
  
Once she would have tried to change their opinions, thrown herself into danger to prove herself and show her worth, gain their friendship through toils and troubles. Naruto cannot bring herself to care, she will let the labels that define her in this life proceed her; prodigy, prankster, hell raiser, demon, jinchurriki, et cetera.  
  
The memories from her clones will be enough to know her team mates strengths and weaknesses. And once C-ranked missions begin, she'll come in person.  
  
However, the highlight of her graduating happens later in the day. When the Hokage gives her the promised journals, memoirs from past Uzumaki, her mother and Uzumaki Mito amongst them. These journals mainly fixated on fuinjutsu, Naruto breifly opened one journal and found small notes, giving her insights to people who were once her family. Naruto has every intention of bunking down that night and reading their words.  
  
Sandaime-sama gives her Kushina's name, and a brief glimpse into her history. With the promise that once she was capable of adequately protecting herself then he would tell her of her father.  
  
The irony is not lost on her, the maturity she displays in this life allots her information that took a decade and half and nearly unleashing Kurama at his most vicious to gain in the other.  
  
But it matters not, the ghostly imprints of her parents were not enough to last a lifetime, she'll take whatever anecdotes she can get.  
\----  
  
_**BEFORE**_  
  
_She has a list._  
  
_A to do list, a hit/kill list, but this list bares the goals of her plans._  
  
_When the silence is unbearable and the mania at its zenith, and she does not seek out Kurama, she reiterates this list in no particular order. Momentarily it helps ground her to reality._  
  
_Kill the aberation_  
_Protect her precious people_  
_Protect Leaf_  
_Dismantle the shadow organizations_  
_Kill the puppet masters_  
  
_But the list is incomplete._  
  
_She shifts and focuses inward._  
  
_She has learned that Kurama does not completely disappear. When he wonders beyond the ether of her mind, the connection between them stretched thin until a single thread remains, precariously hanging in the balance. She focuses on that fragile connection, taking up the arduous task of honing in on his presence; the familiar inferno of chakra and thrum of otherness._  
  
_Ah, there he is._  
  
_When Naruto finds him, she focuses on making herself tangible, a feat that proves to be difficult in a place where the landscape of Naruto's mind blurs into thick mist, and beyond the fog is the roar of a storm, the place where Kurama searches._  
  
_When she appears Kurama resides on the rolling hills of her mind, surrounded by wild flowers and thin clouds of mist. She notes that his form is solid, no echos of otherworldly apparitions. However, he is in a meditative state, so Naruto sits before him and waits until he awakens and acknowledges her._  
  
_The tell tale signs appears minutes later. His tails rise, and then fall in a domino effect. His ears shift, and then very briefly his eyes open, and takes one look at her face._  
  
_There etched on her face is a seldom seen expression of seriousness._  
  
_**"Naruto."**_  
  
_"Kurama, where do you come from?"_  
  
_He rouses fully at that query, and regards her curiously. **"Why?"**_  
  
_"You are nakama." Naruto states simply._  
  
_**"As you have learned, what I am is not fit for mortal eyes, my being is enough to drive humanity mad."** Kurama states with unholy glee, and Naruto shudders remembering burst eyes vessels and the incurable urge to scratch out her eyes._  
  
_Kurama continues, **"But what you have seen is merely an echo, I am a remnant."**_  
  
_Kurama pauses, eyes flickering, something primordial taking shape behind those depths. **"It is complicated, and difficult to explain in in the tongues of humans. But you must know that while the earth is old, I was there in the beginning, and I will be there at the end. I exist in between worlds, nay dimensions, where black matter prevails in the absence of stars."** Kurama finishes longingly._  
  
_There's a pregnant pause where Naruto is pensive, musing on his words._  
  
_"I can't say I understand the depth of what you are, but I understand from the stories you've told me that you have been away from home for a long time. But I'll find a way to get you home, believe it!" Naruto promises._  
  
_Kurama stares at her with inscrutable eyes._  
  
_No mortal had ever offered, no mortal asked, but no mortal had dared._  
  
_He has spent eons fighting the threads of fate, each cycle he serves a purpose, and when that cycle ends Kurama searches looking for away to break away, to return to what he once was; chaos incarnate._  
  
_Every cycle he meets an extraordinary human, but Naruto eclipses them all._  
  
_Finally he says, **"Even if it meant unraveling the foundation of the ninja cycle."**_  
  
_Naruto wears her determined face, "That is not a possibility, I won't let it happen."_  
  
_Kurama stares at her with half mast eyes, **"Idiot child."**_  
  
_Naruto simply smiles, "I never go back on my word."_  
  
_She adds returning Kurama home to her list._  



	12. Chapter 12

"Gahhhhhhhhh!"  
  
Uchiha Shisui is foaming from the mouth, eyes in a tizzy, clutching his wavy hair in utter distress.  
  
Itachi lips are quirk ever so slightly as he leans back against the counter of the dango shop.  
  
A sudden flux in chakra causes him to tense, a roaring inferno that flickers into existence. He tilts his head, there a hitai-ate attached to bright blonde hair, young, painfully young, younger than he, when he donned the brand of Konoha. Here stands another child soldier, he knows the label well. The blonde boy/girl(?) stares down at Shisui writhing on the ground, expression comcerned. Blue eyes look up at him in askance, "Did you give spoilers for the latest episode of Road To Ninja."

Ding, ding! Five points to the blonde for hitting the nail on the head.  
  
"Yes," Itachi says without cause to repine. His smile widens as Shisui wails in dismay.  
  
"Ah," The blonde nods in understanding "Was it about the Diamyo's long lost daughter and how she shacked up-"  
  
"Gahhhhhhhhh!" Shisui shrieks in denial.  
  
"Yes," Itachi reiterates wryly.  
  
The blonde gives Itachi a measuring look, "What did he do?"  
  
Itachi's amusement fades and he frowns, "He spoiled Bonds."  
  
"Ah," The blonde repeats, then grins down at Shisui, "Sorry Shisui! Can't take your side since you broke one of the sacred rules of drama watchers!"  
  
Shisui wails again and covers his eyes.  
  
"Anyhow Shisui I brought the goods," the kid says brightly.  
  
Shisui continues to lament his plight.  
  
The blond stares at him in bemusememt once it appears that Shisui's tangent is not close to ending, Itachi watches in interest as the blond bites his/her thumb and smears the the blood down an arm to unveil a scroll. The blond turns to him with a sheepish smile, "Hey would you mind telling Shisui that I brought the 10 cartons of stinky tofu and 20 cans of fermented fish."  
  
Itachi stares at the kid, "... Do I want to know?"  
  
"It involves hallucinogens, poisons and blackmail... probably torture," The kid finishes with glee.  
  
Itachi tentatively holds out a hand to receive the scroll.  
  
"Thanks," the kid says brightly, "By the way I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"  
  
Itachi gives a faint smile, he surmised as much, the seals were a give away, along with Shisui's chattering and the rumor mill at large.  
  
"Uchiha Itachi," He offers in kind.  
  
This is the first time Itachi meets Naruto.

* * *

  
Something here is not right.  
  
Something here does not belong.  
  
Naruto doesn't think she's being paranoid.  
  
The ANBU retinue contains ten operatives that watch over her, rotating in weekly shifts unless called for missions. Naruto frequently encounters these chakra signatures, the lot of them have stood vigil over her since her birth. These interlopers are becoming more frequent in appearance and she's quite tempted to test her experimental seals on them. Perhaps the one that traps individuals in an eternal labyrinth, where creatures lurk, inspiring insanity at a glance of their forms or leave them behind as mutilated corpses. Maybe she'll try-  
  
"Uzumaki-san! Uzumaki-san!"  
  
Naruto snaps to attention, steps out of the shed and looks up.  
  
There, there on the shed rooftop a voice harkens.  
  
Naruto tilts her head, takes in the shinobi face, voice tone, chakra signature and jogs her memory. Her retention sometimes suffers from the many clones she dispatches, pertinent information comes first, the superfluous falls to the wayside until she can filter through the memories. A metaphorical lightbulb goes off, this encounter she remembers vividly. Her "punishment" at the hospital, studying the seals that were once utilized in operating rooms and lamenting their decayed state. Encountering a captain of the medical corps and having an enlightening discussion regarding iryo-ninjutsu and fuinjutsu, what role yin or yang chakra play as component in medical seals, and if it was possible to create the complex seals in operating rooms on a smaller scale for medical nin in the field.  
  
It was difficult to find someone to follow her train of thought when she went on tangents about fuinjutsu and it's endless possibilities. Nevertheless, this ninja kept up well providing insight into iryo-ninjutsu, and asked Naruto to explain when she did not understand a turn of phrase or technique.  
  
Naruto grins, "Hi Yakushi Nono-san!"  
  
The iryo nin leaps down and lands before Naruto. "Are you busy?" She gestures to the to the pails of paint and brushes in Naruto's hand.  
  
Naruto shakes her head in the negative, "One moment." She places down her burden, raising a hand in a seal and calls forth three shadow clones.  
  
The trio of clones have various expressions of disgruntlement as they await instruction. Naruto rolls her eyes, "You guys know the drill."  
  
There's grumbling as the clones pick up the paint pails and brushes. Mutinous comments follow them as they go about their task: "Shodaime forsaken D-ranked missions." "Fuku-taicho gets to have all the fun." "Boss is always playing favorites."  
  
Naruto gives a long suffering sigh, and turns back to the Iryo captain who has watched the interaction with rapt interest.  
  
"One hand seals and nearly sentient shadow clones... the amount chakra necessary to imprint personality into Kage Bunshin, prodigal indeed," Yakushi comments. Naruto rubs the back of her head sheepishly, the medic nin doesn't know the half of it. Yakushi shakes her head and returns to the subject at hand, "Do you remember what we spoke of at the hospital?"  
  
Naruto nods vigorously in the positive.  
  
Yakushi smiles, "After an uphill battle with my superiors, and the rumors surrounding the seals you've created, they've agreed to the proposal for a prototype Saisei seal. If it proves sucessful, the seal will implemented as a standardized tool for all field iryo shinobi. Will you take on the commission Uzumaki-san?  
  
Naruto wears her determined face, "Of course!"  
  
Later, after the day's missions and training has been completed. She leaves her teammates behind takes to the rooftops, and then dispels.  
  
Yonder, in a pocket dimension Naruto pauses mid brush stroke, as an influx of memories from her clones.  
  
Another step in establishing her self as a seal master.


	13. Chapter 13

She learns.

Knowledge is power so she devours what she can gain.

However, she is an Uzumaki alone, so she becomes engrossed in the words of ghost.

Of the 24 journals the Hokage had given, she's read six so far. She's read only one of her mother's, wanting wait, and substitutes by reading Uzumaki Mito's journals and journals by other Uzumaki. Imaging their appearances and personalities from their words.

It makes her yearn for a clan, a clan of her blood. But Naruto shakes those melancholic thoughts away, she had a family, one of choice, she'll have that again.

Anyhow, Naruto learns.

The Uzumaki vitality does not simply mean longevity, it manefist as a blood line limit of sorts. Exemplary chakra sensory detection, chakra chains, chakra shields and barriers, and even weaponry made from chakra. Some manifestations were singular, some came in pairs. But used in conjunction with seals brought devastating results on enemies. As far as Naruto was concerned she could only conjure shields and barriers, and that was usually with seals manipulating her chakra.

Within these pages were diagrams and arcane symbols of seals, ideas of harnessing components as matrices, brilliant works that inspired Naruto and left her in awe.

Most of all, its in one of Mito's journals that light is shed on an issue that has confounded Naruto.

She unseals notes and scrolls, unfurls a large, roughly sketched map of Konoha. Consults her notes that detail the complex seal that is Konoha's defense system, and draws the incomplete seal onto the map of Konoha. Then she carefully adds the matrices that she believes are the missing pieces.

She looks at it crtically and decides she needs a another perspective.

Naruto walks up the wall, the world going vertical as she comes to a stop and looks down at the finished product. It's an eight pronged seal, she now understands why she was flummoxed for these last few months. This seal is complex, but now that she can see each layer, how each matrix interplays with the other, how such volatile components can be placed in one seal. Uzumaki Mito was ambitious, and Naruto is awe of her gumption and genius.

Now she has to make this seal into reality, a lofty task that has Naruto jumping from her cieling perch, grabbing a calligraphy brush and paper to draw up a formal proposal to experiment in training ground 44.

* * *

There are three hours before dawn. The moonlight is their companion as they travel the rooftops of Konoha.

The destination is a mystery to him. His cousin had simply stated they were making a pit stop for supplies and then they would be off.

It's his third mission with Shisui.

Shisui became a chunin not 6 months ago, but there were talks of him taking the jonin exam. Something he would put off, the same way he delayed becoming a chunin for three years.

Shisui did not like the stigma that came with the label genius. He slacked off where it counted, refusing to fuel their clan's pride. And yet when he was extraordinary, he showed a keeness that sometimes baffled their family and colleagues, except for those in the Intelligence and Torture division, the place where he flourished.

More times than not he wished he'd followed Shisui's example, but then he remembered Sasuke's innocent face and shoved away such selfish thoughts. Itachi was heir, and all of the expectations and duties were his burdens to carry.

They stop, leaping down onto a stairwell, stepping onto the attached landing. Mundane as this is, it's when they approach an apartment that novelty occurs. Itachi flinches, beside him Shisui sighs in exasperation, muttering, "This is new. He must have changed his security again. By the Rikudo senin, are all paranoid shinobi..."

They are caught, immobile in a phantom vice grip. Itachi's sharingan blooms to life, three tomoe spining wildly. It is as if water has entered their lungs and left them breathless, a pressure on the skull that compounds as if it is testing their mettle, nay seeking their intent. As the pressure mounts, Itachi feels the beginnings of a piercing headache, and it abruptly stops. It seems that they are deemed worthy.

Shisui gains his bearings quicker than he, approaching the door and proceeding to knock like the hounds are at his feet.

Itachi follows cautiously, and watches in fascination as threads of chakra appear in a pattern, nay seal gathering from the surrounding structure and coalescing at the door. Itachi's understanding of fuinjutsu is not expansive, he knew as much as any elite jonin. And while the sharingan gives him insight into the seal, this was not a seal he'd ever encountered.

He now knows who's apartment they call upon.

And lo and behold, the Uzumaki appears. The door opens slightly ajar, it opens wider when the sight of Shisui bouncing on his toes appears. "Naruto-chan!"

Blue eyes glare back him. "Shisui," comes the growled response, "this is an ungodly hour."

"Yes, that is true," Shisui says in a chipper voice, ignoring the blond's steadily rising growl, "But we are shinobi! What is sleep to us!? Sleep is for the weak!"

A savage sound escapes Naruto's throat, she/he(?) grits out, "Make a point."

"So cranky!"

The blond's eyes flash red, "I'm going to kill you... slowly."

Itachi is unphased at the death threat, but he is keenly reminded of the Uzumaki's jinchurriki status.

Shisui pouts, "Fine, take away all my fun. Look!" He withdraws a vail from his weapons pouch, and brandishes it proudly.

The blond stares at it, attitude taking a sudden 180, "Is that what I think it is!?"

"Yes!" Shisui crows.

"You did it!?" Comes the incredulous question.

"Of course!" Shisui puts away the vail of clear liquid, pulls out a storage seal to reveal a stack of papers. He waves them with a flourish, "Requests for new seals and inquiries for potential commisions!"

Naruto's eyes gleam.

"Then why are you out here!? Come in!"  
Naruto throws open her/his(?) front door, and disappears inside, Shisui follows.

Itachi finds himself baffled by the entire interaction.

Shisui calls back to Itachi, "Come on Iachi-chan!"

Itachi follows, not quite sure what to expect.

**CHAOS**

Above them the shaft to the rooftop opens, a clone appears, calling, "Incoming!"

Another clone scrambles to catch the incoming objects, which appear to be oranges, apples... and a pineapple.

Naruto offers them refreshments in the form of coffee, tea or water, and fresh fruit. Itachi settles on tea, a curious blend that Naruto admits to making from dried herbs from her/his(?) greenhouse. Naruto nurses instant coffee, rifling through the requests and proposal forms with a shadow clone beside him/her(?).

While Shisui abandones his tea to read over the large scroll and notes spread over one half of Naruto's kitchen table. Beside him are two shadow clones explaining how Shisui's vail of neurotoxin will be implemented. How the seal had a level of sentience that was dependent on Shisui's will, to help distinguish between ally and enemy once detonated, and whether it would incapacitate or kill. How the seal could be used on a single individual or a mass scale, and how it would be keyed to only Shisui's chakra. It was a masterpiece, it was an ameliorated seal from one of Naruto's previous creations. Something put together then and there with Shisui's insight.

Itachi is duly fascinated.

A clone takes a seat at the table beside him. Another clone places an enormous stack of chakra paper in front of it's fellow clone. With an ink brush in hand, the seated clone gets started on the seals in demand.

"Ah!" Shisui shouts suddenly, metaphorical lightbulb going off, "Itachi has a question for you Naruto, anyone willing to answer an inquiring mind about a pressing conundrum?"

Itachi feels the beginnings of a headache, Shisui lacks tact.

"Sure," the clone seated beside him chirps, putting down the ink brush to give Itachi its undivided attention.

"Great, I've done my good deed for the day," Shisui says, giving himself a pat on the back, and goes back to the matter at hand.

Itachi shakes his head, an idiot.

"What would like to know?" The clone asks, gaining back his attention.

Quietly Itachi asks, "What would you like to be referred to as?" At the clone's confused look, Itachi explicates, "Your gender."

The clone's mouth opens in an "o" as understanding dawns. Then the shadow clone shrugs, "It doesn't matter, I answer to both, but most people think I'm a boy, it's easier that way." The blonde smiles brightly at him, "Thanks for asking."

Curiously Itachi's ears flush and it's not from embarrassment.

He's charmed.


End file.
